Honolulu Star-Advertiser

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EditorialOff the News

Off the News: Sad shutdowns on V-J Day anniversary

Among the many unfortunate, temporary closures due to Oahu’s “Stay At Home/Work From Home” order: shuttering of the Pearl Harbor National Memorial.

The site includes the iconic Arizona Memorial, built over the USS Arizona in honor of the 1,177 servicemen killed when the ship was destroyed in Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941, plunging the U.S. into World War II. Also shut for now are the nearby USS Bowfin Submarine Museum, the Battleship Missouri Memorial and the Pearl Harbor Aviation Museum.

The closings are particularly disappointing since this year marks the 75th Anniversary of V-J Day and the end of WWII; most of the grand events have now been scrapped. At last check, a pared-down commemoration of Japan’s formal surrender on the battleship Missouri was to be held on Sept. 2 aboard the “Mighty Mo.”

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